1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a gateway device, and more particularly to a gateway device for connecting a network appliance such as a home electronics or audio/video device to a telecommunications network by means of communications protocol of the appliance to make information on the appliance available. The present invention also relates to a method of controlling a network appliance such as a home electronics or audio/video device, and more particularly to a method of controlling such an appliance in terms of introducing the appliance to be connected to a telecommunications network, obtaining information on controlling, operating and monitoring the appliance introduced in accordance with communications protocol of the appliance, and controlling the appliance on the basis of the information obtained.
2. Description of the Background Art
In recent years, along with the advancement of technology and the evolution of information home appliances, some kinds of appliances having network communications capability have been on sale, as known from the website, “Toshiba Announces Bluetooth Solution to Network Home Appliances and Home Terminal Supporting Web Standards”<http://ascii24.com/news/i/hard/article/2002/02/05/print/6 33371.html>, for example, retrieved on Jul. 13, 2007. However, when making use of the network system, it is not easy to actually install network home appliances having Bluetooth (trademark) communications capability which are described in this website. Also, the applicability of such appliances is restrictive. With these shortcomings, the replacement of such network appliances connected to a network system is possible only in accordance with the convenience of providers of the network appliances, so that end users have no alternatives in this regard.
In the case of the solutions as described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication Nos. 2002-315066 and 2006-227825, when an end user uses a network appliance by connecting it to a telecommunications network, the network appliance operates only by use of a prescribed communications protocol which is supported by that network appliance. The operation of a network appliance thus depends on the operational environment of the network to which the network appliance is connected, so that it is difficult to replace the connected network appliances as described above. In addition, for usual end users, it is also difficult to change the communications protocol used by the network appliance.
Furthermore, even where the replacing and replaced network appliances share the same communications protocol, network appliance suppliers sometimes employ their own rules or procedures respectively. Because of this, the installability of network appliances is hindered.